Car dealers losing sales
October 28th, 2009 by Richard Aucock
CAR dealers are letting the majority of sales leads slip through their fingers, because of bad practice.
Not following up sales enquiries is seeing 90 percent of prospects walk out the door, say new studies.
Mondial Assistance research has led the firm to conclude a ‘lack of proactive communication with potential customers could be losing dealerships sales every day’.
That’s the view of automotive director of the firm, Lee Taylor. Bad customer relations such as this proved worryingly common during a recent mystery shop of top dealers.
Even when car dealers DO follow up sales leads, he says, the onus is always on the customer. They had to call back or visit the dealer, in order to progress the sale.
All quite unacceptable, says Taylor. ‘In a highly competitive market, sales are already thin on the ground, but a sloppy approach to customer communication could make sales non-existent.’
Dealers were guilty of many failings. FIVE common faults were:
• Lack of personalised letter in brochure mail-outs
• Use of non-branded envelopes
• Hand-written address labels packed with errors
• Failure to ask profiling questions – such as purchase date and reason for buying
• Not using a personalised approach to each individual customer
‘Retaining customers is crucial and that means attention to detail at every step of the customer experience, from following up leads to aftersales care. With so much at stake, can anyone afford not to?’
If you recognise any of these traits in your own car dealership, maybe it’s time to review your procedures. Or it will ultimately cost you money…
October 28th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Everytime a survey is carried out, similar findings are reported. It costs a lot to generate a lead but little to keep one. Dealers need to utilise a strong enquiry management system to maximise sales. There is no point implementing diary systems that salespeople do not use and managers do not have time to monitor. WinWin World’s solutions are engaging, flexible and put some fun back into the process, as well as creating a co-dependency between staff, ensuring that everybody plays their part.